Critics of a proposed statewide payroll tax in Washington — including CEOs, startup founders, and venture capitalists — warn it could drive businesses out of the state and inflict long-term damage to the tech sector.
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Democrats argue that the legislation, modeled after Seattle’s “JumpStart” tax, is a fair way to ensure Washington’s most successful companies contribute more to the public good.
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Republicans and some local officials argue the state should instead rein in spending.
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Washington is one of a few states without a personal or corporate income tax. Read more.
Satya Nadella sees in Microsoft’s history a blueprint for its future. By developing a programming tool for one of the first personal computers, Nadella explained, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen were creating technology to help others create more technology.
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"That was true in ’75, and that is true in ’25, and that will be true, I believe, in 2050,” he says.
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Read more and watch GeekWire’s interview with the Microsoft CEO in advance of the company’s 50th anniversary event this week in Redmond.
Portland-based startup Hydrolix raised $80 million to help companies store and analyze huge volumes of log data to detect security threats, debug issues, monitor live streams, and more. Read more.
More startup fundings:
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Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems raised $17.5 million to accelerate the development of its Supernova space vehicle.
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Emovid, a Seattle startup aiming to upend business communication with a focus on video messaging, raised nearly $7 million.
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Track all recent startup fundings here.
Skilljar, a Seattle startup founded by former Amazon colleagues that sells learning management software to help companies train their customers and partners, was acquired by San Francisco startup Gainsight. Read more.
The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 doesn’t innovate in some random mechanical direction, attempt to take over your living room, or leverage AI in some significant way. It is simply a better version of Nintendo’s current console writes GeekWire games contributor Thomas Wilde in his full analysis of the device, which debuts June 5.
The first batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites head to space next week, as United Launch Alliance set a Florida liftoff window for April 9. The mission will put 27 Kuiper broadband internet satellites into orbit. Read more.
Hot Links:
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Rathna Sharad, CEO of Seattle shipping startup Flavorcloud, on key takeaways from the “massive” tariff announcements. (LinkedIn)
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Madrona investor Soma Somasegar looks back on his 27 years at Microsoft and reflects on the company’s longevity. (LinkedIn; Fortune)
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Seattle's best? Real estate giant Zillow and law firm Perkins Coie made a new list of the 100 best companies to work for in 2025. (Great Place to Work)
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Washington State University researchers developed a method to recycle wind turbine blades and recover high-strength glass fibers and resins to make stronger plastics. (WSU Insider)
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Seattle biotech company Helionics was granted a patent for its STARgraft vascular graft to improve bloodstream access for kidney failure patients needing dialysis. (Helionics)
- Seattle cybersecurity startup Protect AI assessed security vulnerabilities of AI models from Alibaba and DeepSeek. (Protect AI)
Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com; GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com. 
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